text: Microscopy with UV Surface Excitation (MUSE) is a novel microscopy method that utilizes the shallow penetration of UV photons (230–300 nm) excitation. Compared to conventional microscopes, which usually require sectioning to exclude blurred signals from outside of the focal plane, MUSE's low penetration depth limits the excitation volume to a thin layer, and removes the tissue sectioning requirement. The entire signal collected is the desired light, and all photons collected contribute to the image formation.